Top 10 Best Athletes With The Most Olympic Medals In The World 2026

The Olympic Games are the highest level of athletic achievement. For hundreds of years, this global event has been the place where legends are made through hard work, sweat, and superhuman effort. Getting one Olympic medal is a life-changing achievement that drives years of effort. But an athlete who stands on the podium time and again at different Games is in a league of their own. It takes a rare mix of talent, longevity, and an unquenchable competitive fire to make someone great and genuinely eternal.

As we think about the pantheon of sports gods, we can’t help but wonder: who are the people who have worked so hard at their sport that they have won the most valuable trophies in all of sports? To get this answer, we have to go back in time, through both summer and winter versions of the Games, and through a wide range of sports that push the limits of human power, endurance, and accuracy. This is more than simply a list; it’s a record of greatness.

The tales behind these medal hauls are just as interesting as the stats themselves. They are stories of overcoming challenges, of breakthrough methods, of dominating a single event so much that their name becomes synonymous with the sport itself, and of being so adaptable that they win in several fields. In this special article, Nubia Magazine takes a close look at the careers of these amazing people to honor their historic achievements.

Today, we count down the top 10 athletes in the world who have won the most Olympic medals. This last list honors the many successes of those whose trophy cases shine with the grandeur of their Olympic travels. These are the athletes who have really done the most for the modern Olympic movement, from the freezing tracks of the biathlon range to the chlorine waters of the swimming pool.

Top 10 Best Athletes With The Most Olympics Medals In The World 2026

1. Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps, “the Baltimore Bullet,” is at the top of the Olympic pantheon with a medal count that appears too good to be true. Phelps is not only the most decorated Olympian ever, with 28 medals (23 of which are gold), but he also has more medals than anyone else. His unique physical traits, such as having a wingspan greater than his height and being able to recover quickly, along with his intense competitive drive, made him the best swimmer ever. Phelps was the best swimmer in many strokes and lengths from his first Games in 2000 to his epic departure in 2016. But it was his eight gold medal wins at the 2008 Beijing Games that made him a global sports icon. He is the clear number one on any list of the Best Athletes With The Most Olympic Medals In The World 2026 because his career is the best example of ultimate Olympic success.

2. Larisa Latynina

For almost 50 years, Larisa Latynina was the most decorated Olympian in history, which shows how amazing she was at gymnastics. Latynina won medals in three Olympic Games (1956, 1960, and 1964) when gymnasts competed on all the apparatuses. This shows how versatile and consistent she was. Her graceful ballet and artistic expressiveness wowed onlookers, as she won medals in the all-around, team competition, and every solo apparatus. Her 18 Olympic medals were the highest standard of Olympic success for decades, motivating generations of gymnasts and cementing her place in history as one of the most important people in the history of the Games.

3. Marit Bjørgen

Marit Bjørgen, the “Queen of the Snow,” is the Winter Olympian with the most medals. The career of the Norwegian cross-country skier is a narrative of how she went from being a talented sprinter to becoming unbeatable in every distance and technique. Her amazing stamina and forceful double-poling technique became her signature, helping her to dominate races in the later portion of her career. Bjørgen’s success was based on her incredible work ethic and tactical knowledge, which helped her win medals in a wide range of events, from the team sprint to the grueling 30km mass start. Her medal collection, which broke records over five Winter Games, makes her a national treasure in Norway and an icon of endurance sports.

4. Nikolay Andrianov

In the 1970s, Nikolay Andrianov was a force in Soviet gymnastics who memorably broke Japan’s team’s long run of supremacy. Over the course of three Games, Andrianov won one of the most stunning medal hauls in Olympic history with his charming and dynamic approach. His biggest triumph occurred at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where he beat the famous Mitsuo Tsukahara to win the men’s all-around gold medal and several more gold medals on individual apparatuses. Andrianov was noted for his explosive strength and the difficulty of his routines, which always pushed the limits of the sport. With all of his medals, he is at the top of the gymnastics world, a symbol of a time when athletes were amazing and there was tremendous competition between countries.

5. Ireen Wüst

Ireen Wüst is the most important name when talking about the most successful athletes in Winter Olympics history. The Dutch speed skater has an amazing and one-of-a-kind record: she has won a gold medal in five Winter Olympic Games in a row, from 2006 to 2022. This record-breaking run of longevity at the highest level shows that she can adapt, grow, and beat both new opponents and the passage of time. Wüst was a continuous threat on the ice since she could compete in a wide range of distances, from 1500m to 3000m. People in the Netherlands and around the world looked up to her as a national hero because she was calm under pressure and skated with grace. Her medal collection is not just vast, but it also has a lot of gold from triumphs that have happened over and over again throughout history.

6. Ole Einar Bjørndalen

7. Boris Shakhlin

Boris Shakhlin was a giant in Soviet gymnastics in the late 1950s and early 1960s. People called him “the Iron Man.” He was a great athlete since he was very strong and could stay focused during competitions. Shakhlin put on one of the best gymnastics performances ever at the 1960 Rome Olympics, winning four gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze medal. He was great at all the events, including the pommel horse, rings, and parallel bars, which showed that he was an all-around master of the sport. Shakhlin’s medal count from three Olympic Games shows how fierce the competition was during the Cold War and how hard he worked to push the limits of what was physically possible in gymnastics.

8. Takashi Ono

Takashi Ono was a leader in Japanese gymnastics and a key player in the sport’s “golden age” in the 1950s and 1960s. Ono competed in four Olympic Games (1952, 1956, 1960, and 1964) and showed an amazing mix of strength, grace, and creativity. He was an important part of the Japanese team that started to dominate men’s gymnastics, beating and eventually surpassing the Soviet powerhouses. His medal collection is especially amazing because it includes medals from a wide range of disciplines, such as the horizontal bar, vault, and team competitions. Ono’s legacy goes beyond his medals; he was regarded for being a good sport and for bringing new things to the sport. His career is a testament to hard work and the spread of gymnastics around the world.

9. Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky is more than simply a swimmer; she is a force of nature who has changed the way long-distance freestyle swimming is done. She made a splash at the 2012 London Games when she was just 15 years old. Since then, she has won so many medals that she is now the best female swimmer of all time. She is the best in the 800m and 1500m freestyle, often winning by huge margins that leave commentators and competitors speechless. Ledecky’s medal count shows how hard she works, how well she does things, and how strong she is mentally. As we look ahead, the fact that she is still in the pool suggests that this count may not yet be final. Her career is a tutorial in how to stay great, and her place among the most decorated Olympians is a huge motivation for athletes all over the world. We at Nubia Magazine are still quite impressed with her career.

10.  Birgit Fischer

The biography of Birgit Fischer is a remarkable exception in the realm of sports, where careers are sometimes short-lived and winners come and go. She is not only a champion, but she is also a force of nature, an athlete whose career has spanned generations and whose collection of medals is beyond comprehension. Fischer did not simply participate in history; she paddled through it, gathering gold medals at a pace that may never be duplicated, with a career that was competitive and spanned from the Cold War era to the beginning of the new millennium.